


Unprovoked

by APocketSizedAce



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Almost kinda shippy but not really, Bastion has had enough people shoot at them, Just a little dash of it near the end, They don't need anymore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-05-19
Packaged: 2018-11-02 15:10:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10947090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/APocketSizedAce/pseuds/APocketSizedAce
Summary: Simply because someone could be dangerous if they chose to be doesn't make them a threat. This is a lesson Orisa learns the hard way.





	Unprovoked

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by some of Orisa’s dialog with Bastion.

  Efi couldn’t believe it. She knew that when she built Orisa the two of them would receive a lot of attention, but she’d never expected that they’d catch the eye of the newly reformed Overwatch. She’d been walking on air, this was a great opportunity to help even more people from around the world. Orisa had expressed some concern since Overwatch was illegal but Efi had convinced her easily enough.

  That was what led them to Watch Point Gibraltar, their temporary base until they could get established in a less obvious location. Orisa watched Efi zip around the room, inspecting the computers and introducing herself to their new teammates. Orisa was having a pleasant conversation with a petite Korean woman, Hana Song she believed, when she noticed movement in the corner of her vision. Turning her head she noticed another Omnic peaking around the corner of the doorway, seemingly unsure if they were welcome.

  The man Efi was talking to, the one who was on the cereal boxes, stopped their conversation to wave to the shy Omnic. “Come on in buddy, they don’t bite.” He smiled encouragingly at them and they shuffled into the room.

  Their green and white paint job looks glossy and new, but they’re clearly an older model. A single blue optic takes up the majority of their face. Orisa has never seen an Omnic like this before. “Scanning... Bastion model E54 detected-” Her programming asserts itself. “-All models subject to termination.” They register as a threat immediately and they’re in a confined space with innocents. The Bastion is stumbling away from her while she drops her barrier before opening fire.

  Several things happen at once as her bullets collide with the other Omnic. The Bastion transforms into a turret, though their guns click uselessly without ammo. Several panicked shouts broke out around Orisa, to be expected. What was unusual was that someone jumped into her line of fire, a silver and green Omnic (she thinks) with a sword. The other’s blade glows green as he spins it and her bullets are somehow turned back towards her. The small woman from earlier is yelling at her, pounding her fists on Orisa’s arm. A panic response or more hostiles?

  ”Orisa _stop_! Orisa,” Efi screams as she runs to her creation’s side. “Override 0569!” Orisa feels her body move of its own accord, arms lowering to her side. She’s locked into that position, unable to get in control of herself. She can’t see Efi but hears her from behind her. “I am _so_ sorry, I don’t know what went wrong! I didn’t program Orisa to attack unprovoked like that, there must be a glitch somewhere in her code.”

  “Can you fix it anytime soon,” Hana asks. “Bastion might not technically be an Overwatch member, but this base is their home. We can’t let you stay here if this’ll happen again.” Orisa can’t move her head to follow the conversation behind her. She’s instead watching the Omnic (?) and man from earlier attempt to calm the Bastion, managing to convince them out of their turret mode. They watch her closely, optic flickering occasionally between red and blue.

  “I can get to work right here if you can clear everyone out of the room.” Efi said. The Bastion is being led back outside by the two men, both talking softly to them. She can hear footsteps behind her as Hana leaves the room. “We need to talk Orisa. I’m going to undo the override but you’re going to stay here and let me fix this glitch.” Efi’s voice is serious and stern, like a mother who’d caught their child doing something they’d been told not to. “Cancel Override 0569.” Orisa gains control of her movements again and shakes her head from side to side to clear the stiff feeling away.

  “I’m afraid I do not understand Efi. If my programming registered the Bastion as a threat, why did everyone react so badly when I tried to keep them safe?” Orisa asked as she settled herself down on the floor. She couldn’t wrap her head around it. People typically thanked her for getting rid of danger, they didn’t get angry with her.

  “That’s the problem Orisa,” Efi responds as she gets her laptop out from her backpack. “That Bastion was minding their own business. They weren’t a threat but you thought they were and immediately opened fire on them. You escalated the situation and made the Bastion react badly, which endangered the other Overwatch members. You could have gotten someone killed Orisa.” Her voice gets strained when she thinks about the near miss they’d had today. “That’s why I’m going to find that line of code and remove it. You can’t keep anyone safe if you can’t be trusted to not attack unprovoked.”

  Orisa felt deeply disappointed in herself, but she was still confused. “But if they were dangerous enough to possibly kill someone, does that not make them a threat to others safety?” It seemed perfectly logical to her, but Efi only sighed.

  “Orisa, _you’re_ also dangerous. You are very capable of hurting people, but you _choose_ not to,” She explains. “Yes, that Bastion is certainly dangerous, but they weren’t acting on it. You can’t decide that they’re a threat just because they could hurt someone if they’d wanted to.” Orisa seems to finally understand and lets Efi plug her laptop into her port without complaint.

* * *

 

  It takes a long time to find the offending line of code and Efi’s eyes are burning from staring so long at the screen when she finally sees it. It’s leftover from Orisa’s old purpose as an OR-14 unit, on the off chance Bastion Units were to make a reappearance. Efi deleted it with a sigh of relief. She didn’t like to mess with Orisa’s programming but this was for the best.

  
  Orisa blinks her optics as Efi disconnects the laptop, it was always a strange feeling. She rose to her feet slowly and turned to her creator. “I believe I owe that Bastion an apology, do I not?” She asks. It seems to be the right thing to say as Efi smiles proudly.

“Yes, yes you do.”

* * *

 

  Orisa looks in every room, but the Bastion is nowhere to be found. Hiding, most likely. Although it’s an upsetting thought she knows it’s a reasonable response, she did shoot them. However she can’t apologize if she can’t find them. Orisa notices the man from earlier walking out of the common room. “Excuse me, Lúcio is it?” She said. The man stops and comes over to her, though it’s slightly hesitant.

  “What’s up Orisa? Did Efi get you fixed up?” He asks. She notices he’s actually very short and has to tilt his head back to look at her face.

  “Yes, she found and removed the faulty code. I want to apologize to the Bastion, but I cannot find them anywhere,” She said. “Have you seen them?” Lúcio hesitates and avoids her gaze. He appears to be in deep thought.

  After some time he looks back at Orisa. “I’ll ask if it’s okay with them, then I’ll let you know.” She nods in understanding. Reasonable, though a little disheartening because nothing was stopping the Bastion from saying no. Lúcio walks out of the building. She’d never checked outside and felt a little silly about it. The other Omnic had been outside when Orisa had first seen them, it would have been logical to check.

* * *

 

  Waiting for Lúcio to come back is agony. Several anxious lines of thinking run through her mind at once. What if she ruined their chance with Overwatch? Did she badly damage the Bastion Unit? What if the Bastion didn’t accept her apology? Orisa can remember Efi explaining to her that people tended to think very negatively when they knew they made a mistake. She’d always thought that was silly, if you knew you did something wrong you try to fix it, then move on. She understood now though.

  She also learned that time seemed to go slower when she was anxious. What she knew was only a few minutes by her internal clock felt like an hour. She immediately perked up when Lúcio came back inside. “They said it’s alright. Just don’t do anything to frighten them, they’re a little on edge right now.” Orisa would have sighed in relief if she had lungs. She gladly follows Lúcio as he leads her outside.

  Behind one of the buildings, away from the cliff side, is a small garden. The Bastion is there in the center, watering the flower bed but watching her closely. They’re very tense and their head is partially retracted into their chassis. She waves to them, Efi had said a friendly greeting makes you less threatening. They look curiously back at her before they copy the action. It reminds Orisa a little of herself, not quite sure how to interact with other people.

  Lúcio is standing behind her, not intruding but ready to intervene if things go wrong. She takes a step forward and Bastion flinches back. Her movements were too sudden, she slows her steps and keeps her hands in clear view. Orisa stops a respectful distance from the other Omnic and lowers herself to the ground. Smaller, less threatening. “E54, is it?” She asks.

  “Yes.” They said. Do they not know English? Most of the Omnics she’s met spoke a human dialect, not the string of electronic noises that was their native language. She supposed that their voice wasn’t capable of making any other sounds, some more basic Omnic models weren’t given those kinds of luxury upgrades.

  “One moment.” She said. She searched for her language database, making the switch from syllables and vowels to whirrs and chirps. “I wanted to explain what happened earlier. There was a stray line of code from my previous form, an OR-14 unit, that my creator didn’t notice. It made you immediately register as a hostile and I acted accordingly.” This was so awkward, apologizing was hard. Did the Bastion Unit even have the capacity to know what she meant? “And I’m sorry. I hurt you without cause, when it’s my job to keep people safe. Since we will often be in the same place I hope we can learn to get along.”

  Bastion stares back at her, head tilted to the side in thought. They extend their hand out to her, a single yellow flower held out in offering. “Here, it’s the same colour as your optics.” Orisa takes it, careful not to crush the delicate stem in her grip.

She feels something warm and bubbly in her circuits looking at the flower. Her optics change to express her happiness and the other emotions connected to it she doesn’t have names for. “Thank you E54. It seems you are evolving beyond your original programming as well.”


End file.
